There's little privacy in a front garden so we spend as little time there as possible, simply parking the car before scurrying indoors.
Nobody could blame you for smothering it in concrete or paving blocks, but if you want to make it welcoming and satisfy the appraising eyes of passers-by, you'll need to plant some shrubs and keep everything tended.
The secret is to choose plants that need little care and attention, suit your soil and gladden your eyes as well as those of others. There's a species of hawthorn (crataegus) to suit every garden. Hawthorns have always been popular and are very hardy; some are slow-growing and never get taller than two metres.
Look out for the more attractive, unusual varieties. Crataegus laevigata "Paul's Scarlet" delivers a blaze of superb scarlet double flowers followed by delightful autumn fruits. The deeply cut grey-green leaves of C schaderiana act as an attractive backdrop to a bold display of burgundy berries. C laevigata "Punicea" boasts an array of distinctively different flowers, with crimson petals encasing fine, white centres.
You'll certainly pause between you car and the front door to enjoy any of these specimens. Hawthorns are also an important magnet to wildlife such as pollinating bees, nesting birds and fruit-gobbling thrushes and robins. I enjoy their harvest as well. Hawthorn flowers make a subtle wine or syrup and my wife Jane makes a tasty, spicy sauce from the berries. It's the perfect condiment for a bacon roll.
Like hawthorns, hellebores are forgiving plants. Apart from clearing away the previous year's foliage in late winter, leave them to their own devices. Helleborus orientalis will handle any situation. And from a selection of large clusters of saucer-shaped white, pink, red or creamy yellow flowers, you're spoiled for choice.
Besides H orientalis, there's a hellebore for most types of soil. When desperately seeking a bit of privacy, you might have let a hedge get away from you and its shadow has created a difficult, damp area. But don't worry, H purpurescans will rescue you, especially if your ground is acidic. Hydrangeas are also well suited to these conditions. Some ferns, such as Polystichum setiferum, cope well in wetter ground. There's such a large number of damp-loving ferns on the market, you'll have no problem tracking some down at a garden centre.
Dry shade is more common, though. The soil close to a large hedge or tree is always dry as these dominant perennials scoop up every last drop of moisture and nutrient. Fortunately, ferns are as versatile as hellebores, and plenty prefer near-drought. P aculeatum, the hard shield fern, does surprisingly well in shallow, stony ground, as does Dryopteris filix-mas.
Several attractive, slow-growing, hassle-free shrubs are fine in slightly less severe conditions. The deciduous American woodland shrub Clethra alnifolia produces a fine display of lily-of-the-valley like flowers in late summer. "Ruby Spice" blooms, are deep pink, while "Hummingbird" offers a white flush. But, if you fancy an evergreen, try Photinia x fraseri "Red Robin". It has 10cm-long, glossy, elliptical leaves and its fresh growth is a striking red.
So, there are ways of dealing with wet or dry shade, but there's nothing more frustrating than turning the sunniest part of the garden into a car park. Some daphnes at least offer scent and beauty and need little attention. They thrive in the full blaze of the sun, prefer gritty soil and often abhor fertile ground. Daphne mezerium is a small, 1.2m-tall deciduous shrub. In late winter, Rubra's pink flowers are followed by crimson berries, while slightly unusual yellow fruits follow the white blooms of Alba. Both are wondrously scented. For a delightfully tiny specimen, try D eximia, a 20cm-tall plant offering crimson buds which burst open to deep pink.
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